Last-minute coal compromise in climate deal disappoints many at COP26

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Almost 200 nations at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow accepted a contentious climate compromise Saturday aimed at keeping alive a key target to limit global warming, but it contained a last-minute change that some officials called a watering down of crucial language about coal.

Several countries, including small island states, said they were deeply disappointed by the change to "phase down," rather than "phase out" coal power, the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Nation after nation had complained earlier on the final day of two weeks of talks at the UN climate change conference about how the deal isn't enough, but they said it was better than nothing and provides incremental progress, if not success.

Negotiators from Switzerland and Mexico called the coal language change against the rules because it came so late. However, they said they had no choice but to hold their noses and go along with it.

Swiss Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said the change will make it harder to achieve the international goal to limit warming to 1.5 C since pre-industrial times.

"Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "We are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe."

Many other nations and climate campaigners pointed to India for making demands that weakened the final agreement.

"India's last-minute change to the language to phase down but not phase out coal is quite shocking," said Australian climate scientist Bill Hare, who tracks world emission pledges for the science-based Climate Action Tracker.

"India has long been a blocker on climate action, but I have never seen it done so publicly."

Others approached the deal from a more positive perspective. In addition to the revised coal language, the Glasgow Climate Pact included enough financial incentives to almost satisfy poorer nations and solved a long-standing problem to pave the way for carbon trading.

The agreement also says big carbon polluting nations must submit stronger emission cutting pledges by the end of 2022.

"It's a good deal for the world," U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told The Associated Press. "It's got a few problems, but it's all in all a very good deal."

Before the India change, negotiators said the deal preserved, albeit barely, the overarching goal of limiting Earth's warming by the end of the century to 1.5 C. The world has already warmed 1.1 C compared to preindustrial times.